Purdue guest lecturer: Global changes could affect U.S. ag

April 5, 2013

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Global economic changes and the
rise of developing countries likely will require changes to U.S. farm policy, says
a former World Bank president and the featured speaker at Purdue University's
James C. Snyder Memorial Lecture on April 12.

Robert Zoellick, who also served as U.S. deputy secretary
of state and trade representative before becoming senior fellow at Harvard
University's Kennedy School of Government, will tell his Purdue audience that the
United States can take full advantage of future international agricultural
opportunities if it takes the proper steps to operate in the shifting global
economy.

Zoellick's lecture takes place at 1:30 p.m. EDT in Stewart
Center's Fowler Hall on campus and highlights a day of events hosted by
Purdue's Department of Agricultural Economics. Admission is free and the public
is invited.

Zoellick's address, "The Changing Global Economy of
the 21st Century: Prospects and Challenges," will question what he
considers outdated U.S. farm policy.

"U.S. farm policies have grown increasingly
defensive," Zoellick said. "They are rooted in logic from a different
era and do not recognize the growing importance of the global food trade. We
should reduce barriers to agricultural trade, not hold onto protections of the
past that are ill-suited to today."

Zoellick said the new agricultural era "should be
defined by the reliance on the scientific method and evidence, innovation, customization
and adaptation to growing and developing markets, the use of IT and software,
and work across related sectors - such as nutrition, the environment and
conservation, good governance, education and training, and public health."

The Zoellick lecture will be preceded by a 10 a.m. panel
discussion in Fowler on "The Future of Global Agriculture." Panelists
are Zoellick; Thomas Hertel, Purdue agricultural economist and founder and
executive director of the Purdue-based Global Trade Analysis Project; John
Hardin, Indiana pork producer and member of the Purdue Board of Trustees; and
Allan Gray, director of Purdue's Center for Food and Agricultural Business.
Wally Tyner, Purdue agricultural economist, will serve as moderator.

At 3:30 p.m. in the Krannert Building auditorium, the Department
of Agricultural Economics will present its Apex Awards. The annual awards honor
individuals with a strong connection to the department who have made
significant contributions to agriculture, business or economics.

The James C. Snyder Memorial Lecture, now in its 39th
year, is named for the late Purdue agricultural economics professor.